Airbnb “nightmare” as residents complain about short let parties

A planning committee meeting discussion on an application for 100 new apartments in Manchester turned into a forum for complaints about an area of the city “inundated” with Airbnbs and other short lets.

“They are a scourge on this city - an absolute nightmare” says a local councillor representing a part of the city close to its nightlife area. 

“The problem is, it’s party time for a lot of these people who rent Airbnbs. It’s great that we have a lot of visitors, but when you’re talking about stag and hen dos, it’s not on. People don’t treat these rentals like their own homes and we get a lot of issues with bad behaviour where families are living” she told journalists after the meeting.

The public complaints at the meeting prompted the Manchester Evening News to visit the apartment complex at the centre of the controversy. 

The story says: “As we arrived on Tuesday, a group of six adults were arriving with suitcases and confirmed they were to stay in an Airbnb property. Resident Toby Lynch told the M.E.N. that one of his biggest fears was the 'breach of security' at the Adelphi Wharf 2 building. The key fobs can be cloned, by visitors," he said. "We've had parcels going missing.

"It is against the terms of our leases for these properties to be rented out as Airbnbs, yet people are still doing it. There is anti-social behaviour with people thinking it's a party house. In the Nisa store on the ground floor there is a sticker in the window for people to collect their keys for the properties they have rented.”

The newspaper received a response from Airbnb saying: "Parties are banned on Airbnb, and we have seen a 75 per cent drop in the number of party reports in the UK since we introduced the ban in 2020. Our 24/7 hotline allows neighbours to contact us directly with any concerns which we will investigate. We are committed to being good partners and have long supported the introduction of a national short-term lets register to give authorities better visibility of activity in their area.

"Our responsible hosting page specifically states: 'Sometimes leases, contracts, building regulations, and community rules have restrictions on subletting or hosting. Review any contracts you’ve signed and contact whoever is responsible for your building and property to understand what rules might affect your ability to host. This could be your landlord, community council, or building manager'. "

The platform also said that Airbnb is often used as 'a catch-all term' to describe a number of different types of short-term letting activity, and has previously been incorrectly linked to issues involving other platforms.

You can see the lengthy full story here.